Manchester reluctant to move on roundhouse

Thursday

The village of Manchester has let an application deadline pass for a grant to clean up the former Lehigh Valley roundhouse.

"Right now the project is not moving forward," said Village Mayor Nancy Johnsen.
Johnsen has not formally brought the matter to the Village Board, though that's still an option in the future, she said.

"I can understand her reluctance," said town Supervisor William Eddinger Jr., referring to what would be a more than $1 million cleanup of the petroleum in the ground at the roundhouse. "There is an amount of risk involved."

To be eligible for a $362,250 grant from the state's Environmental Restoration Program, the village would have to take ownership of the property. Right now, the owner of record is still the now-defunct Springbrook Grain Co. Springbrook owns 4.3 acres. The contaminated site includes another abandoned parcel: 1.3 acres for which R.B. Crowell & Sons is listed as the owner.

"If the village took over the property and couldn't finish the project, the village would be liable," explained Johnsen. "The ultimate goal would be to clean up that property, but it would have to be done at the least cost to the village tax payers, and we would want to limit the village's liability."

The state Environmental Restoration Program would cover less than a third of the project. LaBella Associates of Rochester has estimated that cleaning up the petroleum will cost $1,348,612. The firm estimated that two grants would cover $1,212,851, leaving $135,761 for the village of Manchester to pay.

"There is no guarantee," said Johnsen, that the estimate will be the actual cost.
Moreover, if the village did clean up the property, it's not clear what would happen to it after that.

"It would possibly take two to three years before you could even look for a potential buyer," Johnsen said.

The deadline for a letter of intent to file for the second state grant, $850,601 from the Restore New York Communities Initiative, passed on Aug. 20, according to the Stuart Brown Associates Inc. grant-writing firm.

"We're going to miss the second round of funding," said Eddinger, explaining that Restore New York is an ongoing program. "It is understandable that the village would be reluctant to take on the roundhouse project when the mayor and two of the village trustees were appointed by the board."